Friday (Sept. 22nd) was NOT a good day at all!!! I got a call from my dad in the early afternoon. He told me that my mom was in a lot of pain again and wanted me to come over. I asked him if she wanted me to take her to the hospital. He said he didn't know, but she just wanted me to come over. So, being the lazy ass that I am, I was still not dressed. I had to shower first and get dressed and all, and I gathered some stuff together (laptop, DVDs, music, Nintendo DS, etc.) to keep me occupied if I got bored.
When I got to their house, I walked in, gave my mom a hug the best I could with her lying flat on her back, and asked her what was going on. She could only get out, "It hurts." She said the meds were not helping. I have a feeling she might not have been taking them at the right intervals. With the way she looked and sounded, I thought sure I'd have to take her to the ER again…she was pretty much just as bad as she was on Wednesday (Sept. 20th).
She ended up not being able to change her clothes from Wed…she pretty much slept through Thursday, and she REALLY needed to change. So after taking her to the bathroom, I picked out something clean for her to wear in case we went to the ER. It was quite a struggle getting the clothes on her but we did. I did the best I could…gave her a "sponge bath" to cool her off…she was so sweaty. That I believe is from the thyroid problem. She even seemed to perk up a bit and I'm sure that made her better.
I decided to try to get a hold of her primary care physician before taking any action and see what he had to say. I knew that he was actually out of the office until Thursday the 28th, but there's always a doctor on call. I know how doctors are though…they either take forever to get back to you, or they don't at all.
Since I had no idea how long it would be until the doctor called us back, I decided to give my mom her pain meds. I was thinking that if she had to go to the ER and she was already all doped up, that might make it harder for the doctor to decide what to give her. But she was in so much pain and kept asking for the meds, so I gave in.
To my surprise, the doctor's P.A. called back within an hour. She said that the doctor on call said because of my mom's age, I should either take her to the ER or to the Same Day Clinic. By that time, my mom was knocked out from the meds and resting (relatively) comfortably. So I thought I'd wait and see how she was when she woke up. I didn't want to drag her to the ER while she was sleeping.
So I busied myself…mostly I was on my laptop. Even after three or four hours of sitting there and trying to catch up while she slept, I'm still not caught up! My dad came in several times to see how she was doing, and I had to keep telling him to just let her rest. Their cat Pepper, however, did not adhere to that. When I first got there, he was lying on the bed with my mom, then he left for a bit. When she was asleep, he came back in several times and jumped up to look out the bedroom window. He jumps from the bed to the window and back down again, and each time the bed moves quite a bit! So he woke up my mom each time he did that! Little shit. Every once in a while she would kind of moan and whimper while she was asleep, but aside from the broken sleep, I think the rest was good for her.
When she woke up she was still hurting, but just a LITTLE less. I finally got her to eat. I made her some chicken rice soup and gave her some saltine crackers. She only ate about 1/4 of the soup, but I didn't want to push her. Then I helped her get into some PJs and gave her her next dose of meds. Before I knew it, she was pretty much gone again.
So I stayed over between 6 and 8 hours. I felt good about it though. I always feel good about myself when I take care of my mom. I wish I didn't have to…I mean I wish she wasn't sick, not that I don't like taking care of her, but she said just my being there helps her feel better. When I talked to her on the phone tonight she said that as long as she gets to see me tomorrow, she'd feel better. So I found it interesting that she didn't want me to take her to the ER on Friday, she just wanted me there. That made me feel like a "grown up" in some ways.
I talked to her yesterday (Sat the 23rd) and she said she was feeling much better and could even almost get up by herself. She sounded really well; her spirits seemed up. She's been taking one pill less than prescribed of her Valium…she's supposed to take 3 a day and she's only been taking two. She also age quite well.
Unfortunately, today (Sun. the 24th), she was not doing so well. She said she was hurting again, not as bad as Friday, but she didn't feel nearly as good as she did on Saturday. I guess she is gong to have her good days and bad days. She slept A LOT. She said she woke up and had breakfast, and then fell asleep until about 4:30pm. She was VERY disoriented. I had ironically called just after she woke up. She said she thought she slept through Sunday, and asked me what day it was. I said that it was still Sunday. That worried me a bit, that she didn't know what day it was, but I would think the meds and the pain would have something to do with that. Right?
So my plan for the week, or at least for tomorrow, is to go grocery shopping for them and then go over and help my mom shower, change her sheets, do laundry, etc. I am also going to call her doctor's office and her endo and try to get appts. ASAP. I'll have to wait a week for her to see her PCP, but I don't want to wait until he's all booked up. The endo though, I'm not so sure…he is ALWAYS booked up, but I want her to get in to see him because of her thyroid; I want to get his opinion about what the ENT said.
So Friday was quite an exhausting day, but I'm glad we were able to avoid having to go to the ER. I know we have to take it one day at a time, but I worry every time the phone rings. All I can do is be here when it does, and do the best I can to take care of my mom. She took SUCH good care of me as a child and a young adult (and even now!), and I owe her twice as much in return. I don't feel obligated to take care of her at all though. I can't describe what it feels like…just like she's ill and I'm taking care of her because I love her very much! So I guess that's it for now. Hopefully my next update will be a positive one. Thanks again for your support.
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